Vietnam: Total School Sanitation

Posted on 20 Nov, 2018 by GFA

GFA Bridges supports a middle school in Vinh City, Central Vietnam to achieve Total School Sanitation, a concept including the construction and maintenance of hygienic sanitary facilities and effective wastewater treatment systems on school premises along with environmental education and hygiene behavior change of students and their social peer groups.

Managers, teachers and students of Nguyen Truong To Secondary School in Vinh have been supported by GFA in the past when school latrines were rehabilitated following child-friendly WHO hygiene standards. In addition, an on-site wastewater treatment system using low-tech and easy-to-maintain process technology was constructed and has been successfully operated by the school for years. Also, education and hygiene communication activities were implemented. The ongoing GFA Bridges initiative builds on these experiences and will focus on their upscaling. To this end, a Project Week on water-related issues will be organized at school and results of students' projects will be presented at a Water Festival, which local officials, representatives of the German embassy in Hanoi and donor organizations will be invited to.

Nguyen Truong To Secondary School is regarded a pilot for the Total School Sanitation concept. The long-term objective is to roll-out the approach to other schools in the region and beyond. Therefore, the GFA Bridges support will culminate in a final stakeholder workshop inviting relevant local politicians, officials and representatives from nearby schools to share experiences and explore opportunities for a replication of the concept.

For the implementation of the initiative, GFA expert Christopher Scharfe teams up with volunteer teachers and managers of Nguyen Truong To Secondary School and volunteer sanitation professionals from WaterSolutions International (WSI) e.V., a German NGO.

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